IAS Officer Suspended for Missing High-Level Meeting Convened by Maharashtra Minister According to State Environment Minister Pankaja Munde, the officer allegedly sent a message stating he would not be attending the meeting in addition to skipping it despite being reminded.
Mumbai
An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and the joint director of the state’s pollution control board have been suspended by the Maharashtra government for failing to attend crucial meetings where they were supposed to inform a state minister on vital issues.
State Environment Minister Pankaja Munde was called to address a topic on pollution in the Chandrapur district during an assembly session on February 26.
She claimed that the officials in question, including M Devender Singh, an IAS officer from the 2011 batch who serves as the member secretary of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), and Satish Padval, the MPCB’s joint director, had not shown up for the meetings she had called to obtain information, so she would not be able to provide a thorough briefing.
In addition to ignoring reminders, Munde allegedly told the house that the officer had sent a message indicating he would not be attending the meeting.
According to her, a minister’s capacity to answer to the public is hampered by such insubordination.
The minister’s remarks were taken seriously by the pro-tem Speaker, Dilip Lande, who called the officer’s absence “gross negligence” and a “insult to the legislature.”
He ordered the government to respond right now. A suspension order under the All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969 was issued by the state government within a day.
The matter led to a heated discussion between the legislative and the executive branch.
According to BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar, bureaucrats need to realize that they answer to elected officials, calling the officer’s actions a “cold-blooded murder of democracy” and a “insult to the Constitution.”
The MPCB official will also be the subject of a departmental investigation. His headquarters will stay in Mumbai during this time, and he is not permitted to work outside of the city.
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